serpentwithfeet Announces Sentinel EP and Signing to New Label
serpentwithfeet has a new home and a new record on the way. The New York-based singer-songwriter is releasing Sentinel, an EP arriving December 4, marking his first release under One Little Independent Records after nearly a decade with Secretly Canadian. The title track is out now, blending sea shanties with gospel roots into a love song about male intimacy.
The Title Track Explained
“Sentinel” is a reverent love song inspired by sea shanties and serpentwithfeet’s gospel roots. But the song is not just a pretty melody. In a statement about the record, serpentwithfeet explained what he was thinking about while writing it.
“I was thinking about homoeroticism and the ways that men socialize when they’re isolated,” he said. He then turned to something darker: “One of the ways [patriarchy] is sustained is because men instinctively know their role. Whether you’re the alpha or the beta, whatever those words mean, you know where you fit on the rung.” That sense of knowing one’s place, he argued, echoes religious submission.
For him, that dynamic felt like religion. And he wondered what happens when it gets eroticized. “Another grown man is willing to genuflect, to yield responsibility or become a little less autonomous because somebody else carries more power or privilege,” he said. “For me, that feels like religion. It made me wonder what happens when we experience that erotically.”
The song is a love song, but it carries that weight.
The EP Tracklist
Sentinel runs seven tracks, and the full list gives a sense of where the record moves:
- 01. Sentinel — the title track, out now
- 02. Henchmen
- 03. Invocation
- 04. His student
- 05. Of Course, Daddy
- 06. Sentinel — a second version of the title track
- 07. Puckish ft. TYGAPAW
The EP closes with a TYGAPAW collaboration.
Our Take
The announcement lands with warmth. A new label, a new EP, a title track that asks hard questions about power and desire — there is a lot to unpack here. The song is a love song, but it carries that weight.
The statement about patriarchy and religion is the kind of thinking that defines serpentwithfeet’s work. He has never been afraid to situate his music in larger cultural conversations, and this EP looks set to continue that pattern.
The record arrives December 4. The title track is out now.
Key Facts Box
- Release date: December 4
- Label: One Little Independent Records (first release under the label)
- Previous label: Secretly Canadian
- Album: Sentinel (EP)
- Title track: “Sentinel”
- Guest feature: Puckish ft. TYGAPAW
- Total tracks: 7
Source material: “serpentwithfeet Announces Sentinel EP and Signing to New Label,” Pitchfork.
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